Fresno State Athletics
12/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
A Women's Basketball Diary
The following entry comes from sophomore guard Chantella Perera. For a complete list of this year's entries, check out the side bar on the right side of the page.
 Sophomore guard Chantella Perera
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With seven newcomers and four new coaches and managers joining our women's basketball family, it was definitely time for some team bonding. So we packed up our belongings, jumped into the Bulldog vans and off we went to Sugar Pine Christian Camp for a weekend of fun and adventure.
We were greeted upon our arrival by some lovely layers of white snow surrounding the camp. We quickly divided into groups by our hometowns: the West Coast Girls (Jasmine, Angelica, Amy, Aritta), the Texans (Paige, Mirenda, Brittani, Cophie), the Internationals (Faith, Kendra, Toni, myself) and the "Extras" (Veronica, Tiffany, Erica, Tierre) for a friendly snowman competition.
The groups made for an interesting competition. Three out of the four girls in my group had either never or rarely seen actual snow, let alone built a snowman. To help us out we relied on the expertise of Coach Champagne, a native of Connecticut. The combination of his snow experience and unrelenting desire to never lose any type of race put the International snowman in a prestigious class.
In an attempt to win over the judges (Coach K and Papa K), the Texans relied on some poetic words by Ren to compensate for their lack of snowman-building ability. The West Coast group forgot what a snowman was and decided to take us to Egypt and built a Sphinx. Finally the "Extras" could not work out what clothing is appropriate for snow weather and built some Hawaiian looking snowwomen!
After some deliberation, the judges awarded a tie victory to the Internationals and the Texans. As a reward, the two other groups had to serve and clean up after both winning groups at dinner.
We also played paintball during the weekend. Coach Champagne, dressed in his camouflage army clothes, pulled out some shifty moves. We all conquered a very scary ropes course, which brought a few tears but also displayed the courage and determination of this team.
Finally, we showcased our acting (or maybe lack of) skills at night with some skits by the bonfire, where some of us also tasted our first S'mores.
Our first weekend away together was one that we'll never forget. We learned things about each other that will help us become a better team but more importantly, we came together as the new women's basketball family ready to take on the challenges of the 2004-2005 season.
- Tella
